ahmetb/kubectx · error

context with name %q not found

Error message

context with name %q not found

What it means

The clean no-file-errors variant of the lookup failure: no kubeconfig file errored, but none contained a context with the given name. Raised by contextNodeWithFileIndex when fileErrors is empty, meaning the search was complete and the context name genuinely does not exist.

Source

Thrown at internal/kubeconfig/contexts.go:63

		contexts, err := contextsNodeOf(&k.files[i])
		if err != nil {
			fileErrors = append(fileErrors, fmt.Errorf("file %d: %w", i, err))
			continue
		}
		context, err := contexts.Pipe(yaml.Lookup("[name=" + name + "]"))
		if err != nil {
			fileErrors = append(fileErrors, fmt.Errorf("file %d lookup: %w", i, err))
			continue
		}
		if context != nil {
			return context, i, nil
		}
	}
	if len(fileErrors) > 0 {
		return nil, -1, fmt.Errorf("context with name %q not found (errors in files: %w)",
			name, errors.Join(fileErrors...))
	}
	return nil, -1, fmt.Errorf("context with name %q not found", name)
}

func (k *Kubeconfig) contextNode(name string) (*yaml.RNode, error) {
	node, _, err := k.contextNodeWithFileIndex(name)
	return node, err
}

func (k *Kubeconfig) ContextNames() ([]string, error) {
	seen := make(map[string]bool)
	var names []string

	for i := range k.files {
		contexts, err := k.files[i].config.Pipe(yaml.Get("contexts"))
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get contexts: %w", err)
		}
		if contexts == nil {
			continue

View on GitHub (pinned to 12ad6fb22e)

Solutions

1. List contexts and copy the exact name: kubectl config get-contexts (or kubens).
2. Confirm KUBECONFIG points at the file that actually contains the context.
3. Create the context if it should exist: kubectl config set-context <name> --cluster=... --user=...
4. Guard the operation in code by checking existence before delete/modify.

Example fix

// before
if err := kc.DeleteContextEntry("stg-context"); err != nil { return err }
// after: check existence first
node, err := kc.ContextNode("stg-context") // or equivalent existence check
if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("context %q does not exist, nothing to delete", "stg-context")
}

// Go: check existence before delete/modify to avoid the not-found path
node, err := kc.ContextNode(name) // uses the same lookup internally
if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("context %q does not exist: %w", name, err)
}

if err := kc.DeleteContextEntry(name); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not found") {
		return nil // idempotent delete: treat missing context as success
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: DeleteContextEntry, ModifyContextName, or contextNode called with a context name absent from all parsed kubeconfig files, with all files parsed successfully.

Common situations: Typo in the context name or wrong casing; operating against the wrong KUBECONFIG file than the one holding the context; context removed by a concurrent tool or cluster teardown script.

Related errors

• failed to get current context: %w
• failed to clear namespace: %w
• context with name %q not found (errors in files: %w)
• kubeconfig error: %w
• failed to get current context: %w

AI-assisted analysis of ahmetb/kubectx@12ad6fb22e (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7296c8f1ef17b94d. Report an issue: GitHub.